Chapter 1
I closed my eyes and gripped the arms of my seat as the plane slowly descended into Seattle. The storm had caused a lot of turbulence throughout the last forty minutes of the flight and I was ready to get off this damn plane. Christian knew I didn't like planes—actually no, I loathed them—and yet he had insisted on this international trip.
"You had to meet my parents one day, Shay." He had told me. I would have been willing to wait a couple weeks for a cruise, even if that would take weeks. I exhaled deeply as the plane touched the runway. Only then could I believe I would be safe. That is until we went back home to Madrid, our current address, which was quite possibly a million miles and 18 hours (by plane) away.
I acknowledged the importance of the trip; I had only met Chris' parents a couple times when they came to visit us in New York. Of course, that was before I was offered a job at the American Embassy in Madrid and Chris decided to join me. Since then he had launched a very successful marketing career. We'd been together since my freshman year of college (he had been a junior at the time) and decided to take the next step in our relationship by becoming engaged. I really loved everything about my life. It had all fallen into place after graduation. Chris and I moved into a loft and managed to find decent jobs that would pay for most of our expenses. And Chris himself was so perfect. Sure, he could be sloppy sometimes and he did irritate me occasionally. But he really understood me better than anyone else in the world had. We connected on a level deeper than anything I knew existed. If I believed in the supernatural, I would have said we met in a past life and our souls had reunited once more in this one. Wow, I thought to myself, it's already been 4 years. I guess I was still young, barely 22. Yet, for some reason, I felt really old all of a sudden. Like I was getting my life together too fast. It had taken my parents 30 years to achieved everything I had managed to cram into one. Maybe I was rushing into it, I though anxiously. I hadn't really dated a lot of people, how could I be sure Chris was the one, and not just a one?
I had never planned on getting married young. Yes, I consider marrying at 22 young. I always saw myself as a career woman and couldn't imagine the thought of marrying until I was at least 28. But things were so different with Christian, this just felt so right. So, that's why I was here in this foreign city halfway across the world, a place that looked as though the sun never warmed the faces of its residents.
"C'mon Shay. We have to make that connecting flight to Port Angeles, or we'll never reach Forks by tonight."
I groaned. "Can't we just stay in Seattle for today? I've never been here before. It's so beautiful." I lied as I looked out at the dismal grey sky.
Chris laughed. "You'll say anything to get out of boarding a plane."
* * *
I rested my head against the window as Chris drove to Forks. It was getting dark, but the clock said we would be at Chris' parents house well ahead of schedule. As I continued to stare out the window, I was struck by how strange everything looked. I grew up in Southern California and was used to Spanish architecture and radiant sunshine. Spain wasn't all too different, except for the stone architecture and the myriad remnants of history everywhere you turned. The only historical things here seemed to be the trees, and they really weren't that interesting. I couldn't believe that Chris had grown up here. At least not the man I knew. Maybe Chris the boy had fit in perfectly here. I tried to imagine a teenage Chris trudging through the rain on his way to class at Forks High School. I couldn't do it.
I really hoped I could hide my displeasure in front of Chris' parents, Rod and Sheryl. I couldn't help it. Being here just made me feel depressed. I sighed. Well, it was only for a week and a half. After that I'd be in my beautiful Spain where I had spent only a year so far, but had already grown to love it.
All too quickly, the car slowed to a stop as I snapped out of my reverie.
"Here we are, welcome to Villa Ford." Chris joked. I grimaced back. This house did not even loosely resemble a Spanish villa. Yet, I managed to conjure up a smile as I made my way up the path leading to the door, unaware that my life was about to change forever.